Monday, June 16, 2014

Wake up rise and shine peeps ! As this will be more on tourism product update, be prepared to see more pictures on THE products and not the pictures of me. Haha. Places for visit on this second day are Nordin Batik, Kedai Emas Pak Cu Roni, Balai Seni Lukis Kelantan, Industry Desa Bahulu & Akok, and Kraf Kayu A. Rahman

Songket galore.

A wide range of hand-painted batik.

Nordin Batik & Crafts is basically your one stop centre for buying some hand-painted batik. This is the biggest batik sellers in the whole of Kelantan. Selling a wide ranges of hand-painted batik, block batik, digital batik, batik songket, and batik clothes suitable for men and women.

Diamonds being sealed on a bracelet.

Goldsmith maker, Pak Cu Roni is one of my favourite stops. I get to see the making from melting the gold until it became a gold ring. I even managed to see how the diamonds are being put on a bracelet complete with crafted-name.

Kelantan Art Gallery had just been opened to public for about five months, and the pieces that are being put up was incredible. The paintings were eye-catching. Though the place might be a little small, but improvement are in progress.

Fresly baked bahulu.

Delicious treats like Bahulu & Akok are fresly made here. This cottage industry is one of the ways to increase their household income. Freshly made is better than machine-made treats. By far, you can smell the sweetness of the batter being baked.

Craftsman making a crafts out of woods.

Wood craft A. Rahman, is a craftsman for wood products. Be it wooden door, mirrors frame or any sculptures made from wood, he is your guy. This woodsman craft is located at Kampung Panjang, Banggu. They even made reservation and requests for design.

Can you see the thick sauce over the chicken?

Yes, I am hungry now. Damn.

Nasi Kerabu Ayam Percik at Warung Yati Ayam Percik, the most delicious Nasi Kerabu I have ever taste in my life ! To get the best, you have to find the best. The sauce for the ayam percik is to die for. Creamy and fulfilling. I might just asked for a second round, if I'm not myself.

Have you heard of a dish called Nasi Tumpang? It is rice cooked packed like Nasi Impit, put with some dishes like sambal udang or chicken rendang, fold it in with banana leaves. The reason for inventing this dishes is for food supply for those who travel far.

By night, we get to stay at the prominence Tok Aman Bali Resort. The only 4-star hotel that is available in Kelantan.

Well hello again ! How bout another trip from me? This time is Kelantan, Negeri Cik Siti Wan Kembang. A big thanks to Puan Hazlinawati from Tourism Kelantan for organizing this event, and my boss for giving me the chance to follow it. Haha. And also FireFLy for sponsoring the flight ticket to Kelantan.

As the name 'FAM TRIP' is used, it is the short form of "Familiarisation Trip" which means this trip is organized to exposed all the uniqueness of tourism products to media. In terms of culture, heritage, history, traditional games, arts and crafts, shopping places and their peoples. All of these products will be shown in this 4 days and 3 night of a journey. Though it may seems a little bit cramp, but the experiences and the exposure is something you might not get a second chance.

Trust me when I say, this is my first time boarding a plane all by myself. The last time was like when I was six, I think, and I couldn't even remember how it was like back then. So having to board a plane one more time give me the jitters. I was lost for a while at the airport but managed to find the departure hall. As I was sitting in the plane, my hands seems to be sweaty and I as praying and prying, though the journey took about one hour jeeeee. Overly excessive paranoid ! As the plane started to lift out, unconsciously, I lift my leg too. Hahaha. Luckily no one noticed it.

Good bye, Shah Alam.

Jitters + excitement = I couldn't sit still !

Finally, touch down Kelantan. I must say, I was snapping quite a lot of pictures from the window to get 'the' view of the wings of the plane. Sooo childish. Bear with me. We were greeted by Encik Rosdi, one of the tourist guide assigned to bring us around the places in Kelantan. On this first day, we stayed at Holiday Villa Hotel just in front of the famous Pasar Wakaf Che Yeh or known as the Uptown Kelantan.

Kelantan is known for their foods especially 'colek', which is foodd that are dip in flour mixture and deep fried. They use calamari, shrimp, crabstick, sausage and all those 'bebola' thingy-thingy eaten with their special sauce. Here they even have pulut ice cream, obviously ice cream with sticky rice and colourful bread for topping. Weird but delicious. Just a nice dessert to enjoy by the beach of Pantai Sri Tujuh. Owh yaa, our transport for that day was Volkswagen Combi ! Yes the old school design were hippies in the ol' days use to ride it. If I have a round-shaped shades and a flower crown, I might just be one of the hippies. Hehe.

Can I bring this Combi back home? Can I?

At night, a place called Min House Camp or Taman Kelip-Kelip catered for our dinner, serving the famous blue-rice Nasi Kerabu and getting to stream down the river of Sungai LubukDurian for a chance too enjoy the view of fireflies by the tree. But sadly, since it was raining before we came, only a few of the fireflies can be seen.

Some of the media from many agencies and departments and organizations.

Yes, you can spot Iqram the small one on the right.

Min House Camp or Taman Kelip-Kelip

Before heading back to sleep, Wakaf Che Yeh is a must place to go shopping ! You know how uptown is right? So no need long explanation. Till more stories coming up.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

First of all, before you read about this post, please please excuse their a-little-bit-slow-services, as they are still new and quite struggling to handle all of you hungry-zombie-customers. BE patience as it will be worth it.

To all you hipsters out there, there is a new cafe in town ! Right here in Shah Alam. In the area of the famous Pak Li. Just beside D'One Steak. With only just 10 days of opening, the place has been swarming with customers ! I literally had to fight for a table and chairs. Haha.

With conjunction of Father's Day, the dessert is on sale. Well, some of it. One of it is the scrumptious apple pie. Top with whipped cream, what a nice dessert to be eaten with one iced cold mocha. They even have signature's drinks but too bad, didn't have the chance to taste it yet. But maybe in the future, I'll come back again.

As the name 'Chemistry', you might just mixed something in the cafe. Surprisingly using measuring cups for the drinks and syringe for the extra syrup, it was just outstanding of an idea for the concept. With the mural on the wall, and the decorations at the front door, you might be amazed. As if you are walking into a science lab.

The best part of this cafe, besides than the drinks and foods and also the deco, the attire of the staffs working there. They all wore lab coats. Like literally those-white-clean-lab-coat. Minus the stethoscope, the geeky glasses, and the bundle of files.

As the owner of the cafe, Zuhairy Zakaria (Hairi San), the inspiration to open this cafe was because he was just full of ideas and his creativity keep on blooming ! Well sir, your idea was just right on time ! Shah Alam do need these kind of cafes. Hoping to see more menus and pastries in the future :D

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

As we all know, Puasa is just around the corner and what are the best way to enjoy Ramadhan than having a feast for berbuka at a nice place. Fasting is the moment that we waited for every year and breaking the fast is better by having surrounded with family. Instead of breaking the fast with foods from Bazaar Ramadhan and home-cooked dishes, why not for a change try some delish cuisine with the theme of 'suasana kampung' at Caprilicious, Capri by Fraser Kuala Lumpur.

They are having 'buka puasa' buffet from 30th June 2014 until 24 July 2014, offering a wide spread of delicious local authentic delicacies highlighting the dishes by the stall that will be set up within the vicinity of the restaurant.

Caprilicious will be ofering a special price of RM58.50+ (6% govt tax) with 25% off discaunt for Early Birds from 30th June until 6th July and Last Minute on 21st until 24th July. The best part is, YOU BUY 9, YOU GET THE 10th FREE ! (7th - 19th July)

On normal days, the buffet is selling at RM78+ per person and children (6-12) charged at half price. For those who crave for durian, a stall of durian will be available with an addition of RM15+.

Thank you to Caprilicious, Madam Sharifah and Mr Dennis, for the invitation for me to do a food review regarding the 'buka puasa' buffet. There were a lot of scrumptious menu that were to die for. As I walk through the trails of foods, I surely did not know where to start ! Let's enjoy the pictures and you might just get hooked !

Fuits and lots of it.

Cakes, pastries and yummy Lemon Meringue Tart.

All you 'jeruk' lovers, go nuts !

And you too, Kerabu Lovers !

Masak Lemak Cili Api Ketam.

Good ol' fashion satay.

Durian anyone?

The head chef for Malay cuisine.

The indoor seating.

The outdoor seating. Especially for Durian eaters. Haha.

The bubbly and friendly Mr Dennis, who seems to know how to entertain guests.